An Indian farm worker has not taken a shower for the past 37 years with the belief that doing so might fetch him a son.

Guru Kailash Singh from the rural village of Chatav in Varanasi refuses to take bath despite her wife's threat that his stink will propel her not to sleep with him anymore.

Singh, now 65, claimed that a priest had guaranteed him a son and heir if he followed the advice.

"He says he'd rather die than take a bath and only a son could change his mind. It has been so many years now I've got used to it," the Daily Mail quoted his wife Kalavati Devi, 60, as saying.

Singh has not bathed or cut his 6ft-long dreadlocks since 1974, shortly after his marriage.

However, his religious guidance has clearly failed, as he has seven daughters.

Singh spends his days tending cows in 47 degrees Celsius heat, yet the only 'cleansing' he does allow himself is a 'fire bath' each evening, which involves smoking marijuana, praying to Lord Shiva and dancing around a bonfire.